つばさ ([info]callmefreak) wrote in [info]icon_tutorial,
@ 2004-11-23 02:04:00
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Current mood: curious

bright colors. im stuck
okay ive been trying and trying to get bright colors
like this one


made by the icon goddess [info]calixa

however i have failed in each attempt. many other people have been able to conquer this but i have not. is it color burn or what? i tried just putting something on screen but it didn't come out right....

any help would be appreciated since all my icons have that "dusty" look i want to go for more of a bright look.


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[info]writethestars
2004-11-23 12:44 am UTC (link)
...

or you could try creating your own coloring style... but that may prove to be even more of a challenge for you. I do try to stay out of the wank, but for goodness sake... I'm so sick of seeing everyone copying ONE icon maker's style. You know, they have to bust their ASSES to keep original, and then everyone and their brother comes along and wants to do the same thing as them. And I'm not just saying Calixa or other "BNF Icon Makers", there are some other damn good original icon makers out there, and people are constantly trying to copy their styles. Maybe if instead of constantly trying to keep up with the good icon makers, you just created something all on you wouldn't need icon_tutorial.

To me, Icon Tutorial is a place for novice icon makers can come to get the handle on making icons, and once you get the hang of it you go off on your own and do your own thing. I think it's sad that it's used to turn the icon community into one great big carbon copy. I personally don't even get the appeal of it. I really don't.

Whatever.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]callmefreak
2004-11-23 12:54 am UTC (link)
im trying to EXPAND my style by adding the bright colors to it. i love bright colors and im kinda getting tired of my grainy-ish kinda style. im trying to branch out here. geesh.

im NOT TRYING TO COPY CALIXA. GOOD GRIEF. i have my own style and i have to worry about people copying my own! its called TRYING TO EXPAND. ive been trying for ages to get that bright colors thing down without success ive even asked one of my friends but she's been busy so im coming here? why people its called ASKING FOR HELP. gosh.

and i think it's pretty bitchy for you to assume that i'm trying to copy calixa WHEN IM NOT. i just want to get bright colors. i know how to get the screen affect. i just want my colors to be bright and look nice LIKE THAT but im not trying to copy her style. i just want bright colors for petes sakes. gosh. don't jump to conclusions.

i personally think if you don't have anything nice and helpful to say YOU SHOULD KEEP YOU DAMN MOUTH SHUT. but that's just what i think.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(Anonymous)
2004-11-23 01:05 am UTC (link)
im NOT TRYING TO COPY CALIXA. GOOD GRIEF. i have my own style and i have to worry about people copying my own!

Huh. That's really funny, considering almost 95% of your icons are carbon copies of well known icon makers.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2004-11-23 05:31 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]geology_rocks, 2004-11-23 06:49 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2004-11-23 03:21 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]geology_rocks, 2004-11-24 09:25 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ex_gateaux723, 2004-11-24 11:51 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 11:11 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2004-11-23 03:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 03:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]geology_rocks, 2004-11-24 09:27 am UTC

[info]writethestars
2004-11-23 01:09 am UTC (link)
Well, then I do apologize for puting you on the spot. Just from my perspective it would seem if you just wanted to expand your style with a new coloring technique, you might have just asked for tips on bright coloring without bring Calixa's icons into it. But you know... could just be my overly developed sense of reasoning.
Maybe instead of asking how she makes her bright colors, you could have tried to invent your own technique for bright colors. That would truly be expanding YOUR style, instead of borrowing someone else's.

Do pardon me, didn't mean to not be... decent.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]caeru_, 2004-11-23 05:39 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 10:50 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]caeru_, 2004-11-23 12:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]sequinissues, 2004-11-23 03:20 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 03:46 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]sequinissues, 2004-11-23 04:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 04:38 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]callmefreak, 2004-11-23 04:42 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2004-11-23 04:56 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]writethestars, 2004-11-23 05:12 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]maggieroofus, 2004-11-23 09:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kiena_tesedale, 2004-11-23 11:27 pm UTC

(Anonymous)
2004-11-23 03:10 am UTC (link)
*points and laughs*

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]stupid_thing
2004-11-23 12:55 am UTC (link)
Relax some. She was just asking.

To [info]callmefreak yer on my f-list I believe.. I'll see if I can get that effect and get back to you. Unlike some, I am willing to help.

xM

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]callmefreak, 2004-11-23 12:56 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stupid_thing, 2004-11-23 12:58 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]callmefreak, 2004-11-23 01:00 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stupid_thing, 2004-11-23 01:03 am UTC
Grow up!
(Anonymous)
2004-11-23 07:49 am UTC (link)
With this kind of menatlity everyone should just stop going to art school, photography school or any othe rkind of school that involves art and creativity because God knows NO ONE in art school is EVER taught how to do someone elses technique ... EVER!

I personally make icons for fun and I think way too many people put way too much importance on the whole thing.

For crying out loud all she did was use the persons icon as an example. And to my knowledge no one owns a copyright on bright colors or any othet technique for that matter. As soon as the world starts copyriting technique and style then we're all in a boat load of trouble because there is NO ONE in this world who is completely original. Anyone and everyone in the artistic world, whether it's art, fashion, interior design, etc has been influelced by someone else's style ... EVERYONE!

So get over it and grow up!

And yeah, I'm posting anonymously because I want to speak my mind and be done with it and not have a load of juvenile email responses in my in box.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Grow up! - [info]teasailor, 2004-11-23 08:18 am UTC
Re: Grow up! - [info]lovenote, 2004-11-23 10:31 am UTC
Oh, boy.
(Anonymous)
2004-11-23 04:50 pm UTC (link)
[info]callmefreak was asking for colour tips; she was not plagiarizing great literature or copying off of someone during an important exam, as the level of outrage in your comment would suggest. It's a tiny 100 x 100 picture! I highly doubt [info]calixa was the first one to use that style, anyway. In fact, I bet she has learned a lot from tutorials by other people (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=calixa&keyword=Tutorials&filter=all) - and that does not mean her creations are not her own because other people may have given her pointers on text or colouring. Judging by your icons you made youself, you are guilty of doing the same thing by copying someone else's style. Who cares? What does it matter? It's just great that you have an interesting hobby that produces something nice.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]loridarling
2004-11-23 12:57 am UTC (link)
Hey, Mary.

I think that it could possibly be a combo of screen with a colour burn over the top, or maybe multiply on low opacity?...but I don't know. I know what you mean by the 'dusty' look. Sometimes clear would be lovely, but I'll stick with my pasteley icons...they're pretty too.

(Reply to this)


[info]tresmoron
2004-11-23 01:05 am UTC (link)
It looks to me like it has Hard Light involved in it. But I wouldn't be too sure.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]nekochancutecat
2004-11-23 01:56 am UTC (link)
Just had to comment with the fact that I love your icon. ♥

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]tresmoron, 2004-11-23 01:58 am UTC

[info]cardiacs
2004-11-23 01:50 am UTC (link)
I'm not sure but I think they could've created a new layer and used a gradient with a lighter color on it in one corner like;


Not necessarily those colors. I'm just using that as an example.

And then it's been set to Hard light.

(Reply to this)


[info]adoraheatherly
2004-11-23 01:59 am UTC (link)
Its really rather ridiculous to criticize someone for using a sample to try and more clearly illustrate the type of effect she is trying to do.
I also don't see why it matters whether or not she is using similiar techniques as others on her icons, as long as she's not outright copying them.

[info]callmefreak, do you use PSP or PS? I think you could get a similiar effect by using a black and white gradient set to hard light and playing with the opacity a bit.

(Reply to this)


[info]verylisa
2004-11-23 02:02 am UTC (link)
I've only recently discovered the joys of screens and gradients and exclusion layers and all that stuff. It seems that it's possible to spend a lot of time doing all kinds of fancy things with screens and overlays and other blending modes.

Before I used any of those, I mostly used adjustment layers.

If you like the look of an icon, you're almost at the result you want, but you want the colours to be brighter, why not just use an adjustment layer to bump the saturation up?

Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Hue/Saturation, then simply drag the saturation up a notch. The beauty of using an adjustment layer is that you can turn it on or off, or open it again to adjust it, or change its blending mode, or mask part of it, or whatever you like.

Or is that too simple? I feel like I'm missing something obvious here.

(Reply to this)


[info]strangelittlex
2004-11-23 06:45 am UTC (link)
If you have PS, try rendering some lighting effects. I find it to be much easier than fuzting around with mulitple layers of gradients, brushes, and colors, and you can save a lighting effect you make to use later.

(Reply to this)

Hope this can help you out a bit?
[info]teasailor
2004-11-23 08:16 am UTC (link)
If you have PS, one way to get a little bit of brighter colors is by duplicating your base layer (after you've done all your fiddling around with) and put a gardient layer on screen inbetween the layers. Then the duplicated layer on color burn, so it would be like so -->

duplicated base - color burn
gardient - screen
base - normal

But I would definately mess around with it, because it's really not that similar to [info]calixa's, but it will help you achieve brighter colors, at least that's what I've found. I'm sorry that someone up there was freaking out of you. This is the place for us to come together and share our ideas, is it not?

There is also this tutorial and this one.

You best bet would be just to ask [info]calixa but I always feel weird, personally, asking the icon maker.

By the way, I think your icons are amazing and original...don't let anyone tell you otherwise, please.

(Reply to this)


[info]neverday
2004-11-23 10:28 am UTC (link)
Dudes, what's with the icon drama? Everyone is making icons to GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE FOR FREE. They're doing people a favour and asking nothing back, so what does it matter? It's not like they're making money out of plagerism or anything. :P

Everyone copies everyone else in the icon world now-a-days anyway so it's damn near impossible to get anything even nearly original. I'm not sitting here saying all my icons look 100% original, because they're not going to. If you even LOOK at another person's icons that you like, you're likely to take influence from it, or attempt their style at some point. That's how we learn things and it's human nature to imitate the beautiful. If anyone sits here and says they've never, ever, ever read a tutorial or used someone else's style, they're a damned liar and a hypocrite to boot. (Saying this, you're all members of "icon_tutorial" aren't you? You're telling me you didn't join this place to find out how people made their icons? :P)

Ever heard the phrase "we've all gotta start somewhere"? Well it's true. If you're going to develop as an icon artist, you have to learn how to do other people's skills before you can progress properly.

That out of the way, bright colours are usually achieved using gradient/gradient map layers on overlay/soft light/hard light/etc. Sometimes I use multiple layers of the base image on overlay at varying opacities to get a bright, soft look. Duplicate layer > Gaussian blur (4.0) > Overlay (50%), as many times as necessary to get the right colour. That's my usual procedure. Once that's done, adding a gradient on top of that usually gives that effect you see there. (Though, personally, I don't really like that effect. Too bright for my liking. *likes the grunge*)

Good luck. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]maggieroofus
2004-11-23 11:24 am UTC (link)
Well said!

I hate icon drama. I thought this was one community that was safe from it. Apparently not. I was completely dumbfounded when I saw someone got slammed just for asking a simple question and having a visual example.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]teasailor
2004-11-23 08:08 pm UTC (link)
Very well said.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]darkmemorial, 2004-11-24 05:48 am UTC

[info]stilista
2004-11-23 03:38 pm UTC (link)
It looks like (I could be wrong, don't quote me on this) a dark blue gradient that goes from a light color in the corner to the dark blue. That's how I usually get that white light effect. I hope you get what you were looking for.

You did nothing wrong, you asked what most other people ask. Calixa's icons are great, and we always learn by example. No one invents these styles, they're used by people all over the internet. No one owns the rights to a certain "style". People need to not get their knickers in a twist about these things. Sheesh.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]stilista
2004-11-23 03:38 pm UTC (link)
(the gradient set to exclusion) sorry I forgot that part. XD

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]iconsomnia
2004-11-23 10:50 pm UTC (link)
I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of borrowing the icon you used in this post to help illustrate some brightness and contrast effects that I like using. :) I figure that this way, you can just add one step to your usual style. Or something.

Take your completed and merged icon and duplicate it, so you have two layers. Then change the top layer to any of the following...

@ dodge (70% opacity)

@ overlay/hard light (90% opacity)

@ screen (90% opacity)

@ soft light (100% opacity)

etc, etc.

Um, though you'd have to add the text afterwards. Er, yes, I'll just go now. XD;

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]playthefool
2004-11-23 11:53 pm UTC (link)
Ooh, quite handy, thanks. (:

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Anonymous)
2004-11-24 12:19 am UTC (link)
You might also be able to achieve something similar with the flash filter. Just use it wisely. :)

(Reply to this)


[info]drthbunnysliprs
2004-11-24 12:52 pm UTC (link)
This may sound a bit simple-minded and you may have already tried this, but that looks like a gradient brush from [info]crumblingwalls. I recently got a similar effect when I used those brushes (I have PSP8). I think you could take your icon base (with that dark saturation color technique of yours) and make a new layer with that gradient brush (in white). I would set it to Lighten @ 75.

I tried this with one of your POTO icons and pretty much got the same effect. I would post them, but I don't think it's necessary. Cheers =)

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